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Wednesday, June 01, 2016

June 2016 New Mystery Releases!

Our niece Daisy arrives from England for a two-week stay today. I've been working like a fiend out in the garden trying to erase signs of neglect-- not just because she's coming but because I spend a lot of time out there this time of year. I've brought in the pros with the really big ladders and the really big tools to trim trees. I've had an expert come in to do some exterior repairs to the house. I've even managed to do a bit of cleaning inside the house. I'm looking forward to having Daisy here so I'll have an excuse not to do anything!

But one thing is certain: no matter what else I may happen to be doing, I'll always be keeping an eye out for new crime fiction to feed my addiction. My picks this month are-- as usual-- grouped by release date, and I've included all the information you'll need to find them at all your favorite book procurement sites. Book synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

Series: #1 in the DCI Frank Merlin police procedural series set in World War II London.

ISBN: 9780992994389

Publisher: London Wall Publishing

Paperback, 320 pages

Synopsis: "When a brilliant emigré scientist is killed by a hit and run driver and a
young woman's body is washed up in the Thames, Merlin and his team must
investigate. The woman is an American Embassy employee. The Ambassador
at this time is Joseph Kennedy. DCI Merlin's investigation of diplomats
ruffles feathers at the Foreign Office—the U.S. Ambassador is a
well-known supporter of appeasement and many powerful Britons favor a
negotiated peace settlement with Hitler. Another Embassy employee death
leads Merlin into the seedier quarters of wartime London where a corrupt
night-club owner, various diplomats and the Ambassador himself appear
to be linked to the deaths. Merlin has to pursue his work under the
supervision of an Assistant Metropolitan Commissioner who is fearful
about the impact of Merlin's investigations on Anglo-American relations
at a time when America represents to many Britain's the only hope of
salvation."

Synopsis: "In Room 217 of the Lakes Region Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, something
has awakened. Something evil. Brady Hartsfield, perpetrator of the
Mercedes Massacre, where eight people were killed and many more were
badly injured, has been in the clinic for five years, in a vegetative
state. According to his doctors, anything approaching a complete
recovery is unlikely. But behind the drool and stare, Brady is awake,
and in possession of deadly new powers that allow him to wreak
unimaginable havoc without ever leaving his hospital room.

Retired police detective Bill Hodges, the unlikely hero of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers,
now runs an investigation agency with his partner, Holly Gibney—the
woman who delivered the blow to Hartsfield’s head that put him on the
brain injury ward. When Bill and Holly are called to a suicide scene
with ties to the Mercedes Massacre, they find themselves pulled into
their most dangerous case yet, one that will put their lives at risk, as
well as those of Bill’s heroic young friend Jerome Robinson and his
teenage sister, Barbara. Brady Hartsfield is back, and planning revenge
not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city."

Series: #2 in the Kelly Jackson cozy series set in northern California.

ISBN: 9781616509323

Publisher: Lyrical Underground

Paperback, 190 pages

Synopsis: "It's whale-watching season in Redwood Cove, and B&B manager Kelly
Jackson's battening down the hatches for the tourist rush at Redwood
Heights-a Victorian-style estate owned by her boss. And due to recent
jewelry thefts, her duties include keeping track of the many
dust-covered artifacts spread throughout the property. But when Kelly
finds Sylvia Porter's lifeless body with a blood-splattered brooch
around her neck, menial tasks don't seem so terrible. Enlisting the help
of a ragtag group of brainy retirees, aka the Silver Sentinels,
Kelly's on the hunt for clues hidden behind the mansion's glamorous
facade . . . and for a killer who may want to make history of her next!"

Series: #16 in the Aimée Leduc private investigator series set in 1989 Paris, France.

ISBN: 9781616956783

Publisher: Soho Crime

Hardcover, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "November 1989: Aimée Leduc is in her first year of college at Paris’s
preeminent medical school. She lives in a 17th-century apartment that
overlooks the Seine with her father, who runs the family detective
agency.

But the week the Berlin Wall crumbles, so does Aimée’s
life as she knows it. First, someone has sabotaged her lab work, putting
her at risk of failing out of the program. Then, she finds out her
aristo boyfriend is getting engaged to another woman. And finally,
Aimée’s father takes off to Berlin on a mysterious errand. He asks Aimée
to help out at the detective agency while he’s gone—as if she doesn’t
already have enough to do. But the case Aimée finds herself
investigating—a murder linked to a transport truck of Nazi gold that
disappeared in the French countryside during the height of World War
II—has gotten under her skin. Her heart may not lie in medicine after
all—maybe it’s time to think harder about the family business."

Synopsis: "When a mysterious woman in distress appears outside his home, Mike
Bowditch has no clue she is about to blow his world apart. Amber
Langstrom is beautiful, damaged, and hiding a secret with a link to his
past.. She claims her son Adam is a wrongfully convicted sex offender
who has vanished from a brutal work camp in the high timber around the
Widowmaker Ski Resort. She also claims that Adam Langstrom is the
illegitimate son of Jack Bowditch, Mike’s dead and diabolical father. He
is the half-brother Mike never knew he had

.

After trying so hard
to put his troubled past behind him, Mike is reluctant to revisit the
wild country of his childhood and again confront his father’s history of
violence. But Amber’s desperation and his own need to know the truth
make it hard for him to refuse her pleas for help.

In search of
answers, Bowditch travels through a mountainous wilderness to a place
hidden from the rest of the world, where the military guards a
top-secret interrogation base, sexual predators live together in a
backwoods colony, and self-styled vigilantes are willing to murder
anyone they consider their enemies.

Mike Bowditch must exorcise the demons of the past before the real-life demons of the present kill him first."

Synopsis: "It begins in a Stockholm city park where the abused body of a young boy
is discovered. Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg heads the
investigation, battling an apathetic prosecutor and a bureaucratic
police force unwilling to devote resources to solving the murder of an
immigrant child. But with the discovery of the mutilated corpses of two
more children, it becomes clear that a serial killer is at large.

Superintendent
Kihlberg turns to therapist Sofia Zetterlund for her expertise in the
psychopathology of those who kill, and the lives of the two women become
quickly intertwined—professionally and personally. As they draw closer
to each other and to the truth about the killings, what surfaces is the
undeniable fact that these murders are only the most obvious evidence of
an insidious evil woven deep into Swedish society."

Series: #3 in the Langham and Dupré historical series set in the Scottish Highlands.

ISBN: 9780727885937

Publisher: Severn House

Hardcover, 208 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "It’s the bitterly cold December of 1955, and Donald Langham has been
asked by his friend, private detective Ralph Ryland, to assist him on a
case. Ryland has been contacted by their old commanding officer, Major
Cartwright, who has reasons to believe that his life is under threat at
his remote castle in the Scottish Highlands.

On arriving at the
castle, Langham and Ryland learn that Major Cartwright is attempting to
raise the wreck of a German fighter plane which crashed into the loch in
1945. But it’s not only the bad weather that has put a halt to the
progress of the salvage. Soon after Langham’s arrival, one of
Cartwright’s guests is brutally murdered – and the hunt is on to stop a
ruthless killer before he – or she – strikes again."

=== June 21 ===

Title: Burn What Will Burn

Author: CB McKenzie

Standalone set in Arkansas

ISBN: 9781250083371

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 224 pages

Synopsis: "Bob Reynolds doesn't recognize the body in the creek, but he does
recognize the danger of it. He's a newcomer to town, not entirely
welcome, and not entirely on good footing with the sheriff. So far he's
kept his head down, mostly over the bar at the Crow's Nest. But he has
interests other than drinking and spending his inheritance, including
one that goes by the name Tammy Fay Smith and who may have caught the
sheriff's eye as well.

Reynolds would rather pretend he never saw
the body, but when it disappears, he begins to doubt what little he knew
about this secretive town, a town that seems to become more unwelcoming
by the day. Try as he might, he just can't just forget the body,
despite the advice he's given to do so, and despite the evidence to
suggest that he might be disappearing himself soon enough.

Following his acclaimed, award-winning debut, Burn What Will Burn confirms CB McKenzie as a one-of-a-kind crime novelist with an unforgettably original voice."

Series: #9 in the Bruno Chief of Police series set in southwestern France.

ISBN: 9781101946787

Publisher: Knopf

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "At the annual fête in St. Denis, Bruno’s biggest worry is
surviving as a last-minute replacement navigator in a car rally race.
The contest and a classic-car parade are new to the festivities and draw
a spate of outsiders with deep pockets, big-city egos and, in the case
of a young Englishman, an intriguing story. It’s the tale of a Bugatti
Type 57C, lost somewhere in France during World War II. Among the most
beautiful cars ever made, one of only four of its kind—Ralph Lauren owns
one—it is worth millions and drives its pursuers mad with greed. In the
midst of the festivities, a local scholar turns up dead and Bruno
suspects unnatural causes. After a second death, there is mounting
evidence that the events in St. Denis are linked to international crime.

To make matters even more complicated, a family squabble over land
brings to St. Denis a comely Parisienne who turns Bruno’s head. As
usual, Bruno’s life offers its challenges—but there is always time for a
good bottle and a home-cooked meal."

Series: #1 in the DS Manon Bradshaw series set in Cambridge and London

ISBN: 9780812998320

Publisher: Random House

Hardcover, 368 pages

Synopsis: "At thirty-nine, Manon Bradshaw is a devoted and respected member of the
Cambridgeshire police force, and though she loves her job, what she
longs for is a personal life. Single and distant from her family, she
wants a husband and children of her own. One night, after yet another
disastrous Internet date, she turns on her police radio to help herself
fall asleep—and receives an alert that sends her to a puzzling crime
scene.

Edith Hind—a beautiful graduate student at Cambridge
University and daughter of the surgeon to the Royal Family—has been
missing for nearly twenty-four hours. Her home offers few clues: a
smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the
front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry. Manon instantly
knows that this case will be big—and that every second is crucial to
finding Edith alive.

The investigation starts with Edith’s loved
ones: her attentive boyfriend, her reserved best friend, her patrician
parents. As the search widens and press coverage reaches a frenzied
pitch, secrets begin to emerge about Edith’s tangled love life and her
erratic behavior leading up to her disappearance. With no clear leads,
Manon summons every last bit of her skill and intuition to close the
case, and what she discovers will have shocking consequences not just
for Edith’s family but for Manon herself."

Synopsis: "Magnus 'Steps' Craig is part of the elite
three-man Special Tracking Unit of the FBI. Called in on special cases
where his skills are particularly needed, he works as a tracker. The
media dubs him 'The Human Bloodhound,' since Steps is renowned for his
incredible ability to find and follow trails over any surface better
than anyone else. But there's a secret to his success. Steps has a
special ability---a kind of synesthesia---where he can see the 'essence'
of a person, something he calls 'shine,' on everything they've touched.
His ability is known to only a few people---his father, the director of
the FBI, and his partner, Special Agent Jimmy Donovan.

When the
remains of a murdered woman are found, Steps recognizes the shine left
by the murderer from another crime scene with a physically similar
victim. And he uncovers the signature at both scenes---the mark of a sad
face. At the same time, another killer, one Steps has dubbed Leonardo
and has been trying to track for over ten years, appears again, taunting
Steps. But while Steps tries to find a clue that will lead him to
Leonardo, the case of the Sad Face Killer heats up. The team uncovers
eleven possible victims: missing women who fit the same pattern. Using
his skill and the resources of the Bureau, it is a race against time to
find the killer before it's too late."

Synopsis: "When a treasure hunt leads to deadly plunder, it's up to glass shop
owner Savannah Webb and her trusty investigative posse to map out the
true motives of a killer.

It's the dog days of summer in
St. Petersburg, Florida, and Webb's Glass Shop proprietor Savannah Webb
has an eco-friendly plan to help locals escape the heat--a recyclable
bottle-crafting workshop taught by reticent store manager Amanda Blake.
Turns out, the class is a bigger smash than expected, thanks in part to a
pair of staggeringly old bottles brought in by snorkeler Martin Lane.

Linked to a storied pirate shipwreck, the relics definitely
pique Savannah's interest. But intrigue turns to shock when Martin's
lifeless body washes ashore the next morning, another glass artifact
tucked in his dive bag. With cell phone records connecting Amanda to the
drowning, Savannah must voyage through unchartered territory to
exonerate her colleague and capture the twisted criminal behind Martin's
death. "

=== June 30 ===

Title: Clamour of Crows

Author: Ray Merritt

Standalone debut mystery

ISBN: 9781579624422

Publisher: Permanent Press

Hardcover, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Clamour of Crows is a brilliantly crafted modern morality play
that charts the life and curious death of the legendary entrepreneur Ben
Baum, replete with mayhem, mystery and, perhaps, murder. The novel's
reluctant protagonist, Jonathan Tucker, finds himself drawn into a maze
of deception, death and betrayal. Having lost the only things that
matter, he is induced by his mentor to reengage with his former Wall
Street law firm.

Tuck, as he is called, has to develop skills he
never possessed, just to stay even with an unknown adversary in the
world of Big Law, bigger business and international chicanery.
Ingeniously told, this saga blends elements of classic literature with
nonstop action across two continents, taking you to the edge of your
emotions and reeling you back, without ever losing its sense of humor
and style. Peppering his story with allusions to the world's most adored
children's classics, the author explores the height of greatness and
the depth of evil. In Clamour of Crows, Ray Merritt has created a
witch's cauldron of intrigue, betrayal and unnecessary deaths, as he
explores the dark side of human nature and the fundamental essence of
family and forgiveness."

A little something for everyone, as usual, this month, and a good blend of the old and the new. Which titles made it to your wish lists? Inquiring minds would love to know!

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About Me

Hi! I'm addicted to books (especially crime fiction), laughter and traveling off the beaten path. In my free time, when my eyes aren't glued to the printed page, one of them is usually pressed against the viewfinder of my camera. Let's see... books, laughter, travel, photography. Anything else? Oh yeah-- my dream house wouldn't have a kitchen!